FAYETTEVILLE, NC (WNCN/CNN) – A North Carolina mother is facing child abuse charges after she allegedly mixed soda and lighter fluid then told her young sons to drink it.
The Cumberland County district attorney has requested that 34-year-old Octavia Robinson, who was arrested Monday, undergo a mental health evaluation.
While in court, the mother yelled at the judge, telling him she no longer wanted her kids.
Robinson is accused of putting lighter fluid in cream soda Sunday for her 6-and 10-year-old boys to drink at their home in a Fayetteville, NC, motel.
Instead of drinking the soda, the 10-year-old went to tell neighbor Tracy Madison about the drink that allegedly didn’t smell right.
"As soon as you popped it, it hit your face. It was hurting your stomach,” Madison said.
Madison went upstairs, but when Robinson wouldn’t let her in, she called police.
"As a mom, I need[ed] to do something,” Madison said.
Madison says the 6-year-old boy drank some of the allegedly toxic soda and had to be taken to the hospital.
The incident happened just hours after Robinson was released from a mental hospital, where she had been committed for two days after making violent threats, according to the district attorney.
Madison says she was caring for the boys while their mother was away, and she told them she’d be there for them.
"If your mother does anything that's funny, come back to me, and I will get her the help that she needed,” Madison said. "To be honest with you, it's a sad story because a lot of people were minding their business when it came to these kids."
Robinson is facing two misdemeanor child abuse charges and two felony charges of distributing food containing noxious or deleterious material.
Her sons have been in the care of the Cumberland County Department of Social Services since the alleged attempted poisoning.
Copyright 2018 WNCN via CNN. All rights reserved.
